Pioneer’s girls needed a big week. The Mustangs had lost four of five games to open league play and were hanging around near the cellar in the Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Pioneer needed to do something big to make a jump up the league standings, and the Mustangs did just that last Saturday night with a 46-43 upset win that knocked Branham out of a first-place tie.

There was no individual star for Pioneer in the Jan. 25 win; rather, the Mustangs used a balanced attack to drop the Bruins. Jena Brown popped nine points and Ashley Snow dropped eight to top a list of eight players who scored in the Pioneer victory.

A.J. Leasau supported with seven points and shared the team rebounding lead with Brown, each of them ripping down six boards. Leasau also led the club with three assists and added two steals, and Brown had two assists and shared the team lead in steals with Nikki Sun with three each.

Sun, Aja Macias and Chelsea Brown tossed in six points each, and Lauren Baker and Katie Wilkinson had two apiece. C. Brown drilled a pair of three-pointers and J. Brown and Snow added one each.

Branham opened up a 24-20 halftime lead in the game played on its home floor, but the Mustangs cut the lead by three in the third to 33-32, then outscored the Bruins 14-10 in the fourth to win by three.

Regina Sankey was the scoring leader for Branham on the night with 21 points. She popped a three among seven field goals and added six points at the free-throw line. Jessica Mok supported with 12 points, including a three. Ashley Parsons added seven points, and Brianna Sasao had three.

The win left the Mustangs 3-5 in division play and 7-9 for the year as they prepared to face Willow Glen earlier this week. Pioneer will visit Santa Teresa on Jan. 31 before hosting first-place Piedmont Hills on Feb. 4. Both games begin at 7 p.m.

Branham slipped to 6-2 and a game behind Piedmont (7-1) in the league race. The Bruins were hoping to get back on the winning track earlier this week against Santa Teresa. They will visit Westmont on Jan. 31 and host Gunderson on Feb. 4 in a couple of 7 p.m. games.

Pioneer had opened last week with a 46-34 win over Gunderson before dropping a 68-57 decision to Evergreen Valley.

Show pitched in 11 points and Leasau added 10 for the Mustangs in the win over the Grizzlies. Natassia Powers chipped in with nine points, sun had seven, Jeana Lindsley five, Macias three and C. Brown one. Snow and Macias each hit threes.

Branham was coming off of a 38-28 win over Willow Glen before losing to the Mustangs.

Sankey starred with 16 points, including a three, and Parsons threw in 11 points. Sasao added six points, Erika Staud four and Mok and Alexa Lopez two apiece.

Parsons and Sankey pumped in 19 points apiece, but the Bruins lost 70-55 to Piedmont Hills to open the week. Staud joined her two teammates in double digits with 11 points and each of the three hit a three.

Leland won two of three games last week to push its record to 5-2 in the Santa Teresa Division. The Chargers sandwiched wins over Independence (47-44) and Oak Grove (31-25) around a tough 47-41 loss to first-place Silver Creek. The Raiders top the division at 8-0.

Melissa Fletcher tossed in a pair of threes and was 4 of 7 at the line to finish with a team-high 10 points against the Eagles. Sienna Gonzales added nine points, Sun Bang eight and Lauren Yamagami and Kayla Dacanay two apiece.

Fletcher buried 16 points in the win over the 76ers to open the week. The 6-foot-1 junior guard hit two threes and was 6 of 8 at the line.

Gonzales and Yamagami drilled 12 points apiece, but the Chargers lost by six to the Raiders. Fletcher and Dacanay added six each, Elisa Hills had four and Bang hit one.

The Chargers will host Leigh on Jan. 31, 7 p.m.

The Longhorns entered play this week with a 4-4 league record (7-10 overall) after losing two of three last week. Leigh beat Andrew Hill 50-39, but lost 49-32 to Live Oak and 37-34 to Independence. Jaden Anderson poured in 13 points and Alexis Lindsey had 11 to lead Leigh past Hill. Stacie Moore and Alexis Flores jammed seven apiece, Katie Stamps and Lily Wu hit five each and Ally Lee had two.

The post-game handshake between coaches Jack Del Rio of the Raiders and Andy Reid of the Chiefs eventually came off Thursday night, but it seemed for a while that there’s enough bad blood between the two that it might not happen. Once time ran out in the Chiefs’ 21-13 win that gave K.C. a leg up in the AFC West...